


An Unexpected Friendship

by Bridthesin



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, No Smut, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 22:49:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6169816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bridthesin/pseuds/Bridthesin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is in connection with "The Junkie and The New Girl", when Harry and Hancock have an argument she marches off and takes Curie and Strong with her before dropping them off at a settlement and disappearing, it's a long while until they see her again. In the meantime the two go on adventures and become very unlikely friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unexpected Friendship

          “I like big ones” Fahrenheit said with an evil little chuckle that Curie didn’t quite understand. Instead of replying she lifted the little 10mm pistol and aimed at the rusty metal of an old can, missing it by barely an inch, she frowns,  
          “I worry that this world is so violent and without mademoiselle Harry I would be useless” she says to the sullen woman at her side who looks at her with an unreadable expression. Curie feels a little out of place among the drifters and neighbourhood watch in Goodneighbour. She isn't used to the dirt on the street or the tang of radiation in the air, she isn't really used to walking or breathing either since she was a robot up until a week ago. It had always been something she'd understood in theory, the idea of a beating heart and skin that could feel but all the new sensations made her head spin. And the smell! Oh god she could smell everything whether she wanted to or not and she had never known just how much the olfactory sense was connected to breathing.  
          Harry had been so good to her despite having so much to worry about herself and Curie felt an odd bubbling pain when she thought about that. Hancock too, he had given her somewhere to stay and she felt something that had been explained to her as guilt for the amount of times she'd chided the ghoul for using chems. Now Fahrenheit too was helping her learn to shoot and had set up a row of dented and rusted cans on the outer wall for her to aim at. The woman had even chased off a few drifters who had complained about it.  
          Suddenly the door to the statehouse, the one with broken windows and paint that may once have been white, burst open making Curie jump. It was Harry and her face was screwed up in such a way that she looked angry, an emotion Curie had yet to experience herself. The door slammed behind her and she marched towards the two of them, Fahrenheit tensed at her side and Curie wondered what could be going on. A hand wrapped into hers and she felt that odd bubbling in her chest when she looked down to see it was Harry’s,  
          “He's all yours” Harry said before pulling her away from Fahrenheit, away from Goodneighbour and out into the rubble of the ruined world beyond, “Strong, we're leaving” the supermutant appeared from nowhere and followed behind them,  
          “Oh mademoiselle Harry I do hope nothing is wrong” she asked her friend, realising that her own eyes had become wide without her asking them to,  
“Sorry Curie but something is wrong” the Vault Dweller still looked angry but it was tinged with something else that Curie couldn’t place. The sooner she could get a grip on these emotions and how to express them and understand them in others the better. Strong was grumbling close behind them, he was an odd thing and made her feel a little uncomfortable, especially since she didn’t understand him.  
          It was dark amongst the tall, dilapidated buildings and Curie had to look high above her to see a blue sky. She thought to herself how lovely it must be to see that same sky stretching across and open horizon, when she had last seen that it had been as a robot and there had been no emotion attached at all. Everything was so new and bright and crystal clear now and looking at anything she was bombarded with feelings. Sometimes she forgot that she didn't have to remember to breathe and would try to suck in air only to find it catching in her throat when normally it would just happen.  
          Deep in thought about all these things she didn’t notice Harry stopping and crouching until she walked right into her, suddenly she became aware of a stabbing pain near her heart. Her breathing was deep and slow and everything around her got even clearer than it had been, she could hear movement that wasn't any of the three of them. Fear, it must be fear though she had only read about it before and about the rush of adrenaline and narrowing of the senses that came with it,  
          “Stay down Curie, if you feel confident that you can get a shot then take it but try not to shoot us” Harry whispered to her and together they sidled towards the noise. Strong wasn't all too big on sneaking though and ran right up to the stinking men in leather, their rudimentary pistols doing little damage as the supermutant swung at them. Curie watched in fascination as heads turned at angles they shouldn't and blood sprayed where legs were broken and the bone protruded. If she watched close enough she could calculate the exact moment when a neck snapped or a rib punctured a lung and she knew they were dead. What she didn't know was why she was crying, her normal detached curiosity was gone and she really felt for these people. Knowing the exact moment that their life ended and why made the ache worse and before she knew it she could no longer focus past the water in her eyes. She didn’t even have to fire her 10mm once, Strong did most of the work and when it was done Harry crouched near the bodies and looked for anything useful, muttering angry curses under her breath. That was until she looked directly at Curie and her face went from anger to wide eyed shock before softening as she approached,  
          “Curie, what's wrong?” she asked,  
          “I… I don’t know… I just… they were people and now… they're not” she wiped the tears from her face and stared at the woman next to her, who looked understanding,  
          “I get it, death is such a… final thing, when I first woke up I felt so bad for killing anything, especially people”  
          “That will happen to me some day won't it? I never feared death as a robot, it was just an end but now...”  
          “I don’t know… maybe you’ll die in hundreds of years in your sleep and not even think about it… it can be scary thinking about your own mortality but I find it helps not to dwell on it”  
          “WHY HUMANS TALK SO MUCH?” Strong demanded as he glared down at the two women,  
          “Sorry Strong, Curie’s just asking some questions” Harry answered him “come on let's keep moving” she helped Curie to her feet and they carried on. After walking in silence for some time Curie realised this would be a better opportunity to ask Harry what was wrong, now that she looked less furious,  
          “Mademoiselle Harry… may I ask what it was that upset you earlier?”  
          “I had an argument with Hancock” she sounded so sad, like she had given up,  
          “Will we return and talk to him soon?”  
          “I don’t know Curie” Harry said with a sigh “I don’t think so, I think we just don't agree on something really important and he's too stubborn to see why I have to do this”  
          “So… where are we going?”  
          “I'm going to drop you two off at Oberland Station and… I'm sorry Curie but I have to leave you there and I won't be back for a long time” Harry looked at her feet as they deftly balanced on the shifting rubble,  
          “Where will you be going mademoiselle Harriette?” something burned in the little synths chest and she felt it warping her eyes, though she didn't know what her face would look like now,  
          “Don't look so worried Curie… I'm going to be with my son” the smile her friend gave her didn't even convince her despite how little she understood human emotions. Still she didn’t press and concentrated on memorising the feeling of emptiness blossoming in her chest, Harry had said she looked worried so that must be what this feeling is.

 

          It was nearly dark when the odd little band arrived at the tiny farm that sat by disused train tracks and had so much stuffed into such a small space. Curie hovered by the edge for a while, watching as the Vault Dweller talked to a group of people in the distance. New people were… well they were new to her, getting to grips with so many experiences that she had never even thought about before left her overwhelmed. She didn’t know what to do or how to react, if she should join the group or stay put. In the end an ache in her legs decided for her and she dropped her heavy pack to the floor and sat down right where she was in the dirt.  
          She was starting to feel a little foolish, aware of every glance that passed her way when the ground shook, making her jump. A wall of green beside her let her know that Strong had sat next to her, he leaned down so that his head wasn’t too far above her own,  
          “DON’T WORRY LITTLE LADY, OTHER LADY STRONG, GOOD LEADER” he rumbled to Curie who couldn't help smiling back at the big brute and his sweet attempt to comfort her. Harry was walking back over by then and sat in front of them, her legs crossed in front of her and an odd look on her face,  
          “I've persuaded them to let Strong stay here with you, he'll look after you Curie… won't you Strong?” she looked at the supermutant pointedly,  
          “STRONG DOES AS LEADER SAYS, STRONG WANT LOOK FOR MILK OF HUMAN KINDNESS”  
          “Well you two can look together when Curie is good enough with a gun, that'll mean she can get out and see the world a bit too”  
          “Buy what if we are not here when you return Harriette?” Curie asked, talking quickly as though the words were bumping into each other as they waited to get out,  
          “I don’t know when, or even of, I'm coming back so you two just worry about each other for a while” Harry was sad, even the naive little synth could tell and Curie’s heart felt heavy at her words,  
          “I will do my best mademoiselle”  
          “I know Curie… goodbye” Harry threw her arms around her with a deep sigh that made her chest squirm before turning to Strong and patting his arm “Goodbye Strong”  
          The two of them stood together and watched the vault dweller walk into the trees and out of their lives, maybe forever. Curie didn’t want to understand the strange, tugging pain she felt so strongly at watching such a good friend leave. She didn't want to feel it at all but looking up at the supermutant towering over her she knew he was feeling the same and she would not be alone. She patted him on the arm and led him towards the settlers who watched them both with a mix of curiosity and caution.


End file.
